The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-12-10
SENECA THE SERENE.
SENECA IN THE RAIN.

SENECA IN THE RAIN.
Saturday last will be memorable TO a
couple of representatives OF the FREE
TRADER office, as a day of drenching rain
and bottomless mud. 1t rained In torrents
il poured In vast volumes; II blew In
sheets; II fell In gusts; II splashed, and II
dashed 10 furious waves against everything,
upon every object and nlled every gutter.
enshrouded the houses In an impenetrable
body, II filled the streets with dark, mys'
terious mist. Vaughey and his umbrella
in the distance looked like the faint out.
lines of giant goblin. Charlie THOMAS
spare form lodged out of sight between
the drops. Southey, the English poet de-
scribes in UNIQUE verse How the water
came down at Lodore." Had he seen
Seneca when we did, he would have tuned
his rhymes to far more appalling theme.
To" come down." in the sense OF the Brit
ish poets song, implies gentle, willing
movement. At Seneca the rain did not
fall; II was drawn by some tremendous
force, and 1t howled, 1t shrieked, II was a
deluge. England, on the Cornish coast,
has town called "HangertOn. on. the-mud."
Last Saturday we saw town which might
be Justly named Seneca. ina swamp"
Everybody had the blues mixed with the
wet, and yet the people were not yindictive.
They didn't quarrel with each other, nor
{" fly In the face of Providence as some
irrascible persons do when their we'll runs
dry. They shook hands with 1--WE uns
OF the press, and even set up the cigars.
The city marshal was obliging enough to
call our attention to the new brick, wide.
deored, iron. bar. Widowed, tin.roofed, 81.
400 calaboose! An outside view sufficed
we took his word for the internal conven-
fences. We were shown through Mr.. Rul-
isons bank In q fine, new brick building,
put I'D by himself, and well provided with
safes, desks, an iron. grated Cage.crowned
the counter. and behind II tempting packa-
ges of Uncle Sans currency, greenbacks,
blue backs, brown backs, silver, gold and
drafts. He said he would make us pres
ent of the whole out fit-some other time.
We peunced in upon Mr.. Shaw, the extern
sive repairer of carriages, wagons, sleds,
anything In the way of the farmers imple-
ments, and who has an expert horse sheer,
and defies the world to beat him. We also
found Bolivar Wilks, the learned village
blacksmith. He is fearfully ingenius;
his stove. harp, not yet patented, Is the
wonder of the settlement. 1t Is small
iron rod, five feet long, extending from the
top of the upright drum to the base of the
stove, tightly screwed in its place, and free
from the stove and drum, and vibrates at
the touch of the finger. When the fire is
out II sings bass; when the heat Is about
right II sounds concert pitch; and when
the stove is red 1t shrieks In high c." He
doesn't have to open the stove door to see
If the fire Is out. He strikes the rod and
his practiced ear tells him just how the fire
is! Sometimes he forgets awhile, then
sounding the rod, he finds 1t responds in a
double bass thud, and he knows the blarst.
ed fire Is out He dances wild Com
anche horn pipe, and after growing terse
and epigramatic scriptural remarks, gets
1t going again and sings, "Thus l strike
my sounding Tyre"
If he don't strike the sounding ditto of
this paper, we shall be happy.
FOUND DEAD.
Christopher Columbus Brown, son of
Thomas NJ. Brown, of Seneca, was found
dead in his wagon south of Seneca on
Wednesday afternoon. His father runs a
soap factory, and the boy, Is years old, had
been out buying soap grease, and was re.
turning home. lie was subject to epileptic
fits and as his head when discovered was
found wedged In box of straw, 1t Is
supposed that he was taken with one of
these fits, snd falling in that position,
suffOcafed